HALO: Raging Wars
by SPARTAN-109
Summary: SPARTAN-113 fights to protect humanity--and protect Earth.
1. Reach

**0705 hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

**Epsilon Eridani system, Orbital Defense Generator Facility A-331, planet Reach**

SPARTAN-113, Jason, slapped a fresh clip into his MA5B assault rifle. He checked his ammunition--three more magazines. Three Banshees raced overhead, plumes of gray smoke whispering silently. He fired at full auto, and saw two other Covenant Wraiths arriving. Their large plasma guns swiveled and whirred, and blobs of silvery-blue plasma burst out, destroying shrubs and grasses.

"Protect the generators!" shouted Jason, slapping a fresh new clip into his weapon. Muzzles flashing, two of the seventeen Spartans in Team Beta advanced. "Get the plasma guns!" ordered Jason, dodging a dazzling plasma mortar. He tinted his faceplate as the plasma blob passed by, sizzling and landing into the area of yellow, dying grasses behind him. Explosions thundered through the facility as regiments of Grunts and Jackals charged in. Three pairs of large rock-like Hunters stomped in, their fuel rod guns overcharged and ready. "Get the--" His voice was abruptly interrupted by the loud sound of screaming.

Four Spartans were sent flying back, helmets blasted off. Sooner or later, the Covenant would run over their position. Hundreds of Covenant troops charged in, firing plasma in every single direction. Bolts and waves of plasma crashed into Jason's energy shield, and Jason jumped up, dropping his assault rifle as plasma detonated the rifle, and shattered 7.62mm rounds burst everywhere. Jason plunged his hand into the bag next to him, hitched a needler onto his belt, and grabbed a plasma rifle. He rolled away from a plasma detonation. Six Ghosts sped in, firing silvery bolts of plasma as they went. Two Banshees flew overhead, and a chunk of Titanium-A debris from space landed near Jason.

Jason waited as the plasma weapon recharged, then fired. The other last thirteen Spartans stood, firing their stolen plasma weapons continuously. SPARTAN-005 smiled, gritting his teeth as he fell, his plasma pistol still firing as he went down. Jason roared crazily, firing bolts of constant plasma, not letting anything get up. The meter bar on the side of the rifle showed only one-fourth energy left. As Jason paused for a moment, checking for leaks in his MJOLNIR combat armor, the vertical hot, red bar turned blue and cool as the energy recharged itself.

Jason whispered a silent prayer and activated all the self-destructions on his dead teammates' armors, and sprinted away, aware of the other Covenant troops running crazily after him. A large, fiery-red explosion blossomed up behind him and his faceplate automatically polarized to maximum. A flashing yellow color illuminated the inside of his helmet. He fired his plasma rifle everywhere, and his charge meter slowly leveled down. Jason growled angrily at the rifle and waited for it to charge. He settled down behind a twelve-foot-tree. Suddenly, crackled, smoldering red-yellow leaves were blown away as a medium-sized Covenant prowler landed, its four plasma turrets ready.

Four groups of Elites hopped out, their energy blades flickering to life as they jumped out one by one. Jason watched as a wisp of smoke floated overhead, then he turned his attention back to the prowler. He zoomed in on his magnification tool in his HUD and he saw two Grunts and half a dozen Elites guarding the prowler. Their plasma pistols were out--he noticed the Elites' energy swords were gone.

He quietly crept from his hiding spot, walking lightly "over" the ground. A leaf and a branch cracked as he twisted his body to slide through a slight gap to the small ship's landing place. An Elite fired his plasma pistol at the hiding spot, and a microsecond later, the Covenant guards were firing their plasma guns and turrets. Jason had lost the element of surprise, so he advanced, firing the longer C-shaped plasma rifle he had. The green streak of plasma from the rifle hit the Grunts. They squealed and fired their pistols crazily. A blob of plasma hit the Elite in brown armor. Jason watched the Elite growl.

As the three Elites charged, he knew he had a slight advantage--the aliens didn't have their formidable swords. He fired his half-charged plasma rifle at a constant rate, and plasma bolts roared past, hitting random parts of the prowler. An Elite charged, and it grabbed a plasma grenade from its belt and threw it. The ball-shaped grenade detonated in midair, disabling an air vent nearby. Air stopped flowing through the vent, and another vent started up in the room.

Jason watched as the Elites were confused for a second, trying to gasp in oxygen for their breathing. Then, he hurled himself forward into the Elite who's shields were down and tackled him. The Covenant trooper's jaw cracked as Jason gave a swift punch, but then felt a blow to the back of his helmet. Another kick to his side knocked the breath from him, and he pulled his plasma rifle out of the soldiers' grips, firing the gun.

The unshielded Elite screamed as supercharged plasma blasted into his mouth, burning the insides to cinders and crisps. The two other Elites were caught off balance by a sudden klaxon alarm sounding, and Jason tackled them both in the stomachs, pushing them roughly out of the prowler's passenger bay, where they had been fighting. He heard a small squeal and he brought his rifle to bear when--a Covenant Engineer wriggled out of a hole, handing a clean, fixed MA5B assault rifle to him. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and noticed the tag on the Engineer. It read:

_If any Spartan gets this, report immediately to Reach ONI facility CASTLE, we are under attack. Repeat: We are under attack. _

_Sergeant _"_Rock_" _Norman_

Jason nodded approvingly at the chirping Engineer and then pressed the green button on the control panel. The hatch sealed with a slight _click_. He proceeded to the cockpit of the Covenant prowler. On the ceiling were Covenant letters. Jason's new Covenant translater read: _Golden Sun_. That was a beautiful name for a ship. A beautiful name.


	2. Escapade

**0733 hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

**Captured Covenant prowler _Golden Sun_, Epsilon Eridani system, en orbit around planet Reach**

Jason looked at what was left of Reach through the _Golden Sun_'s cockpit windows. He looked through his HUD, filing through the symbols. He pressed a symbol that was like a paperback-book with squiggly lines coming out of the spine and the _Sun_'s headlights turned on. He pressed the same symbol and they turned off. He pressed a 26th century pen-like symbol and lances of silver, shimmering plasma jetted from the turrets without heating up--Jason had doodled with the _Sun_'s weapons a little bit and he had come up with silver-purple plasma that came up immediately instead of having to heat up.

He piloted the _Sun _with its surprisingly simple controls--a NAV computer for a GPS and joysticks. He pulled the joysticks and the prowler reversed smoothly. He pushed them forward and the prowler burst forward at top speed--425 km/h. He pulled the sticks back a little and both sides minimized some speed. One joystick meant one side--pulling both meant good balance and good leverage. He grinned: piloting the ship was actually very easy and simple. Covenant text scrolled across the _Sun_'s data pad and he turned off his translation matrix. He had memorized the Covenant words on their five years ago, literally.

"I'll tell you why I'm here." He fired off the rippling plasma turrets, and the powerful silver lasers sliced blue shimmering shields in half and cut through hulls. Plasma heated up on destroyers', carriers', and cruisers' turrets. Jason reversed the prowler full speed and turned on his shields by pressing an up arrow-like button and he put the energy to maximum. Plasma lasers hit the flaring white shields.

Jason quickly danced his bulky gloved hand across the controls and a Slipspace web appeared, neatly laid up on the window as a holographic display. He tapped the nearest Slipspace entry and he placed his back against the cold, blue metal of the Covenant prowler. It raced ahead, entering the web of entries. A whooshing sound indicated the prowler accelerating swiftly into Slipspace. Jason searched the prowler for any Covenant survivors, and he found only five Covenant Engineers, who followed him endlessly. They occasionally stopped to fix a broken or burnt wire or two, but kept on following him anyway.

Jason found a purple metal door, which had a complicated series of number pads and symbols and a green button on the control panel. A small blue-background screen showed an asterisk-like symbol. Jason pressed a bird symbol, then a key-chain symbol, then an "H" symbol. He pressed a small button that read like a F and an E back to back. The green button flashed and Jason punched it.

The sealed metal door hissed open, and an amazing sight showed up--the storage bay. It was filled with dozens of human MA5B assault rifles, M7 SMGs, new rifles whose boxes were labeled "BR55 Battle Rifles" in a scrawly ball-point pen mess, M6D sidearms, HE pistols, rocket launchers, missile launchers, plasma pistols, plasma rifles, fuel rod guns, M41 LAAG chainguns, and SRC992C sniper rifles, and a new type of sidearm labeled "M6G Pistol". Boxes were absolutely rich in ammunition, and small cR human currency coins and paper money littered a large orange-yellow crate.

Jason grabbed a "battle rifle", a pair of SMGs, a new M6G handgun, four clips for the battle rifle, six clips for the submachine guns, and six clips for the M6G sidearm, plus five clips for his MA5B. He ejected his three-fourths spent assault rifle clip and inserted a fresh clip, then fitted one clip into each M7. He clipped the two M7s to his belt, grabbed two spike grenades, stuck them to his belt away from the M7s, slung his MA5B over his shoulder, and wielded the battle rifle. He zoomed in, and he muttered, "Auto zoom."

The Engineers chirped away as they fixed cracked and broken Covenant weapons and human weapons, and fixed the boxes holding them. He fired the battle rifle at the metal wall, and a three-round burst caught the purple wall. The .374-caliber rounds made small dents in the wall. Jason quickly walked out of the room, weapons covering his body. The Slipspace passing was still going on. Jason fired a quick burst under the co-pilot's seat, and a dead Jackal shuddered, and its shield generator on its forearm slid out. Jason saw it flashing a glowing red, and he tossed it at the Engineers, and they got to work almost immediately. Chirping and squealing pierced Jason's helmet.

The orange flashing stopped and the Engineers placed it on the window of the passenger bay delicately like it was some emperor. Jason sighed--Engineers were very useful.

Suddenly, the _Sun_'s COM raised up: "_Incoming Covenant prowler--identify--prowl--attack--help--_" Jason stopped, his gloved hand still in midair above one Covenant symbol. He looked on the NAV computer. It read: Two hours until destination.

This fast? Something wasn't right. He suddenly sprinted across the _Sun_, and quickly typed in his 'High Guardian' access. He tramped into the storage bay, aiming his BR55 at corners. Someone was calling the UNSC or the Covenant to the prowler. He heard a slight squeal and attempted tip-toeing. He whirled around and saw four Grunts, their COMs on and static pouring through. Jason fired the battle rifle's three-round burst of .374-caliber ammunition and the bullets lodged themselves comfortably inside the thick skulls of the Covenant Grunt troopers.

"_This is the _Unyielding Hierophant_. State your business_." The rough translator in his HUD alarmed him immediately.

"_This is the _Golden Sun_. We are here to attack Earth_." Jason answered, rubbing his hands anxiously, a habit for when he was nervous or embarrassed.

No answer came back, and the clock ticked down: 25 minutes left until out of Slipspace. Jason prepared his weapons, checked his armor, and was ready to put his prowler to a lockdown position. Then, he saw it--the giant figure-eight piece of architecture. Hundreds of Covenant vessels were parked like electric cars near the _Hierophant_, and for a minute, Jason-113 was mesmerized and amazed by the Covenant's technology. Plasma beams cut along the space, searching for unwanted or uninvited vessels. Well, here was an attack for you. Jason opened fire with all four turrets.


	3. Fighting

**1250 hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

**Captured Covenant prowler _Golden Sun_, near Covenant battle station _Unyielding Hierophant_**

Jason-113 felt lances of plasma burn into the prowler--everything had been easy for him: escaping from Reach, going through Slipspace--and he responded with continuous fire, and then a holographic display of the _Sun _appeared above the NAV computer, and a red square flashed from where the third turret should've been. Another red square flashed, and now the Covenant prowler's klaxon "alarms" were sounding--it was a screaming, shrieking, groaning, grunting, moaning, bellowing sound that pierced through Jason's helmet.

Suddenly, as the prowler accelerated just in reach of the _Hierophant_, the sides of the supposed-to-be-silent prowler were ripped off, and the _Sun _shot into the _Hierophant_. It crashed into a side of the battle station, fire rippled along the surface of the station, and lances of hot plasma broke through the shields. Jason tore out of the window of the cockpit, firing his BR55 battle rifle at full automatic mode. The 2X magnification scope locked onto a pair of targets--the green-armored Hunters with their massive fuel rod guns charging and heating and glowing.

"Shit." Jason's voice came out hoarse and as a whisper, but he opened fire anyway. The .374-caliber rounds punched through the armor, creating a griding noise. A Hunter roared in pain, reared back, and fired six bursts of green plasma energy into space. Jason heard a whistling sound and saw the _Sun _bearing down on him, the dulled hull nearly reaching his neck. Jason curled into a tight, small ball, and the bottom of the scorched prowler groaned as it passed over the MJOLNIR's shields. It crashed into the surface, landing directly on the Hunters' heads, and the fighting Covenant heavy-duty soldier was blown back full force, while the other's head was cut off from the chin up.

Jason turned the battle rifle to another target--fourteen Elites with their glimmering electromagnetic energy blades shining in the darkness of space. He fired a short three-round burst of the .374-caliber ammo and one Elite's shield dropped easily. He fired a few more rounds, when he impacted on the gray surface. His biosigns flat-lined for a nanosecond, then burst back to life, dancing lively.

Blue plasma explosions dotted the _Hierophant _and trails of flame snaked and forked across the whole battle station.

"_This is the Unyielding Hierophant. We are preparing to open fire with plasma turrets. Brace._" A single beam of quiet plasma shot through the air, cutting the night sky into halves. Beams of plasma surrounded Jason, and sixteen Covenant Jackals arrived, plasma pistols ready to attack. Jason fixed his scope on the lead Jackal and did the auto zoom. He fired a three-round burst into the beast's body, then a full auto of rounds into its head. Its shields flickered and died down, then the shield generator activated its fail-safe. The Jackal commander rapidly tried to get the generator off, but it detonated, and shimmering waves of plasma heat filled the air with toxic fumes.

Jason aimed his BR55 at the oncoming Brutes, Hunters, and Elites, and opened fire. Bullet casings spilled across the floor, and the rounds bounced harmlessly off the Hunters' armor. Jason put his headlights' volts to maximum and shone it into the creatures' eyes. The beasts roared, charged, and were met by an onrush of bright blue-green light blinding their eyes. The dropped their weapons and clawed at their eyes uselessly. Jason, still shining his lights, charged across the small space he had, jumped four point six centimeters above the plasma, and rolled aside on the other side.

Plasma flickered all around him, sending fiery flames shooting up like angry missiles. Bonfires covered up the trail that would lead to himself, and he sprinted away, slapping a fresh clip into his BR55 battle rifle.

He owed the rifle a lot. And he would pay. Six detonations behind him indicated the fail-safes on some plasma guns had been activated. He nodded quietly to himself, located a Covenant "Spirit" dropship ahead, and turned the half-sprint to a full-speed run. Wind blurred the items that he was running by, and some Elites on patrol stared in wonder as the large six-foot-eleven inch Spartan charged past. Jason got to the Spirit and hopped on board, shutting the hatch quickly behind him. Covenant troopers fired large plasma weapons at the U-shaped dropship and some hammered their weapons on the shut hatch.

Jason opened the door to the cockpit with a quiet hiss and sat down on this chair--it held him well. Words in human script were messily painted on the ceiling--"Spirit XY". Enthusiastic name for a ship. He gently placed the BR55 on its sling and slung it over his shoulder. He checked his weapons--MA5B rifle, BR55 rifle, two M7 submachine guns, and an M6G pistol--good, he hadn't lost anything except some dust. His 21mm knife still hung on his belt, safely clipped to the MJOLNIR combat armor.

He heard a clang and a hissing, moaning noise as something _cut _through the heavy Covenant-blue armor of the small ship. An energy sword. He tapped controls on the dropship and it lifted off, and whoever had been trying to cut through the armor fell off, consumed by the energy of the Spirit. The Elite screamed as it was sucked into the energy case of the dropship. Jason raced out of the small docking bay and into the night. He was heading for Earth--he had no idea what the "_Unyielding Hierophant_" was for, and what it would do, but he knew it was worse than Reach being destroyed.

As he left the anonymous system, he activated the Slipspace drive, and drove into a small space in the spider-web of Slipspace holes and headed directly for the Sol system. Jason would help them. Of course.


	4. Chapter 4

**0155 hours, September 14, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

**Captured Covenant dropship, in Slipspace en route to Sol system**

Jason-113 felt the Spirit dropship rattle and slow down--about fifteen to sixteen days had passed while he had been in Slipspace, and nothing particularly interesting had happened, except for six broken plasma motor-engines. About sixteen or fifteen days had passed during the ride to Sol system, and nothing particularly _cool _had happened, except a few broken plasma motor-engines.

He heard a faint whoosh and the U-shaped dropship entered Sol system, racing past Saturn and Jupiter. It shook again and stopped abruptly at the asteroid belt. Hundreds of space rocks rotated the area, and the dropship slowly but agilely rotated and navigated its way past the heavy rocks. Mars and the Earth's gray-white moon were visible, and a small beautiful, vast temple-like building stood tall and proud--Misriah Armory headquarters.

As Jason rotated around the moon, the blue-and-white-and-green sphere came into view, slowly rotating every second. Jason called HighCom's Bravo-6 facility, and Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood picked up. "Yes? Who is this?" The voice of Hood sounded vaguely disembodied because of the popping COM.

"SPARTAN One-One-Three." Jason replied with a firm voice.

* * *

"Yes? Who is this that is calling this facility?" Admiral Hood sat, business-like on his electromagnetic chair that floated slightly.

"SPARTAN One-One-Three." The voice had no hint of joking in it, but Hood knew better.

"Stop kidding around. Who are you and what do you want?" Hood was growling with irritation now.

* * *

Jason sighed. After thirteen or nineteen minutes of talk between him and the Fleet Admiral, the Admiral hadn't given in about "how you are not a Spartan" and "you will tell me what you're doing and what you want". He switched the COM off quietly and waited as the dropship came close enough. Sydney, Australia stood out especially because of its huge Bravo-6 facility that was placed there.

Forty or fifty patrolling guards with old MA3 assault rifles walked around the fort's perimeter, guarding it very well. Jason silently landed the _Spirit XY _at the area near the large Douglas firs and crept in silence, despite his MJOLNIR combat armor, and hopped out from among the trees. Almost immediately, assault rifle fire peppered away at his shields, eating the bar steadily but not quickly. Jason raised his hands, all weapons slung and clipped, and said, "I'm free."

The guards stared suspiciously but also in shock at the 6-foot-9-inch Spartan-II in front of them. They quietly pressed the green button on the control panel, and the quadruple large titanium-granite doors hissed-crunched open. Guards surrounded the walls, some with M41 LAAG chainguns stationed on the ceilings, and some with MA5B assault rifles or MA3 assault rifles. "What do you want, Spartan?" whispered a quiet, dangerous voice.

Jason whirled around, and saw the man who hated the Spartan-IIs--Colonel James Ackerson. His eyes shone a bright red, flickering with flames. His hair was tousled and a M6D handgun was aimed directly at Jason's head.

"Take him, guards." The orange-clothed guards stepped forward, rifles at the ready, but Jason was quicker. He knocked four of them out with a swipe of the butt of his battle rifle and sprinted for the entrance to the actual B-6 facility. A scan stopped him. "Scanning..." The computer's cool voice was calm, as if nothing had happened. "Identification verified. SPARTAN One-One-Three, you may proceed."

Ackerson's jaws split open for a second--he looked enraged and on fire. He fired rounds from his M6D pistol, which clanged off the heavy metal doors behind Jason.

Jason grinned, and shouted, "Mighty pleased to do your work, Colonel." For once, the Spartans had won against James Ackerson.

* * *

As Jason propelled himself through security doors and into barracks, he found a Lieutenant Commander sitting at a small plastasteel desk playing a game of spider solitaire with a Staff Sergeant Marine.

He made a crisp salute, ignoring the men's surprise and shock, then went out the other way. He followed his HUD's mini-GPS to Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood, and found the Admiral shuffling a deck of aces, 10s, 5s, 9s, and Jokers. "Sir." Jason saluted smartly, then slung his BR55 rifle.

"Ahh...Spartan. You defeated Ackerson's men with greatness. I admire you." His voice sounded hoarse, sad. "Although I fear...the Master Chief is dead. No sign of him for a few days now."

Jason felt the same way, but he kept his mouth shut. He polarized his visor to full, and looked on a TACMAP leading to the Great Barren Valley of Australia. Thousands of hundred thousands of soldiers were kept there, but now there only seemed like six hundred men. He turned off the TACMAP and depolarized his faceplate, so the Fleet Admiral could see his pale face crystal clear.


End file.
